Oracle Bumper Light install how-to: Direct to Aux only

[notquiteflotsam]

After searching here, I didn't find a write up on how others had done this before so thought I'd add this here for the next person who wants to do the same.

My objective was to wire the Oracle Reverse Bumper lights directly to the Aux switch, and not into the reverse lights themselves. The reason is that we live in a neighborhood and I didn't want to blind my neighbors every time we backed out of the driveway. Instead, we wanted to be able to use them selectively when conditions warrant it.

This wasn't hard, but having read some other threads I know some folks can be intimidated by wiring. I'm no electrician, but this seems to have worked.

1. Remove the reflectors and install the lights per the Oracle online instructions.
2. That left us with the female slot connector ends (black and red) hanging from each light as they come. I had on hand the male ends which I attached to some extra pieces of trailer light wire (I think 16 ga wire) that I had. The wire on the factory lights is tiny and I wasn't sure I had a butt connector that would fit. I wanted things to be water tight so I applied marine shrink tubing to my connections. I also put a larger single piece of shrink tubing on the lines, but didn't seal that one. Here's where I am so far, for left and right.
   1. NOTE: in hindsight I should have added some dialectic grease to the connectors to help keep water at bay prior to heating the shrink wrap over the connectors but perhaps the glue in these will suffice.
      
      
   2. Repeat this on the other side. Note I didn't use much extra wire as I'm joining them in the next step in the middle and there was plenty of wire to do that on the lights themselves.
   3. Make note of what colors you're using. In my example, I matched red from the light to red wire I had, and black from the light to the brown/yellow trailer wire I had.
3. Next step was to connect the lights to each other and to a single wire that I planned to run up to the aux pigtail (factory - installed aux switches). For this step, I used a blue (16-14 ga) marine butt connector. The Marine types have the heat shrink built in with some glue that is supposed to make them water tight. The two small 16ga wires I added fit the blue connector. On the other end of the connector, I used 14ga wire that I purchased for about $6 for a 20' roll at Lowes (one red, one white, because white is what they had in stock). 14 ga is probably overkill. I couldn't find what amp these lights draw anywhere, but 14ga would handle the 15amp limit of Aux4. At this point, things look like this:
   
   
   1. Note: the large heat shrink on the left of the image is also on the connectors on the right.
4. The next step was to attach the ends of the long wires I intend to run to power and grounds, next to battery. Again, keep track of your colors. In my case I matched red to red, and white to brown/yellow.
   
   
5. I then got out the heat gun and shrunk the heat shrink on all of these connections to seal things up. I wrapped a few ends in electrical tape to try to keep things tidy.
6. At this point, I started zip-tying up the wires from the lights to an existing wire bundle behind the bumper. I then took the new red/white wires and wrapped them in split black cable tube to add some protection from abrasion and such. I routed these up above the axel, again, following and zip-tying to existing wiring that's under there. At about the point I got to the fuel tank on the right side, I dropped the cable tube down to start running into the frame tubing. I used a fish tape I had fed from the passenger wheel well back to this point to pull the wires through. the black gorilla tape in the picture is where I joined two pieces of tubing. I zip-tied this to the frame as shown.
   
   
7. After pulling the wire through and out the frame rail, pushed & zip-tied this bundle up to the battery/pigtail behind the piece of steel next to the shock as shown.
   
   
8. From here, it was simply wiring the red to Aux 4, and the white to ground. Don't mix this part up. I don't know for sure but this could cause damage to the lights given the LEDs are one-way diodes. I used a hoop style connector to put this on one of the ground studs, again heat shrink over the connector to keep things tidy.

Hope that's helpful for the someone.

IF you're looking to wire yours to the reverse lights, my set of lights came with the extra harness. I'm not going to use this but can pass on to a member who could use it for a nominal price. DM me if you're interested.

Sponsored

 

[MattK]

Just out of curiosity. I'm no electrician either. But is there no suitable ground around the backend of the Gladiator to go to? One less long run of wire I suppose if there is.

 

[notquiteflotsam]

Yes I’m sure there is. I didn’t look for one. I was running wire up front anyway. It cost me a $6 roll of wire to ground up front.

 

[Curt Oz]

After searching here, I didn't find a write up on how others had done this before so thought I'd add this here for the next person who wants to do the same.

My objective was to wire the Oracle Reverse Bumper lights directly to the Aux switch, and not into the reverse lights themselves. The reason is that we live in a neighborhood and I didn't want to blind my neighbors every time we backed out of the driveway. Instead, we wanted to be able to use them selectively when conditions warrant it.

This wasn't hard, but having read some other threads I know some folks can be intimidated by wiring. I'm no electrician, but this seems to have worked.

1. Remove the reflectors and install the lights per the Oracle online instructions.
2. That left us with the female slot connector ends (black and red) hanging from each light as they come. I had on hand the male ends which I attached to some extra pieces of trailer light wire (I think 16 ga wire) that I had. The wire on the factory lights is tiny and I wasn't sure I had a butt connector that would fit. I wanted things to be water tight so I applied marine shrink tubing to my connections. I also put a larger single piece of shrink tubing on the lines, but didn't seal that one. Here's where I am so far, for left and right.
   1. NOTE: in hindsight I should have added some dialectic grease to the connectors to help keep water at bay prior to heating the shrink wrap over the connectors but perhaps the glue in these will suffice.
      
      
   2. Repeat this on the other side. Note I didn't use much extra wire as I'm joining them in the next step in the middle and there was plenty of wire to do that on the lights themselves.
   3. Make note of what colors you're using. In my example, I matched red from the light to red wire I had, and black from the light to the brown/yellow trailer wire I had.
3. Next step was to connect the lights to each other and to a single wire that I planned to run up to the aux pigtail (factory - installed aux switches). For this step, I used a blue (16-14 ga) marine butt connector. The Marine types have the heat shrink built in with some glue that is supposed to make them water tight. The two small 16ga wires I added fit the blue connector. On the other end of the connector, I used 14ga wire that I purchased for about $6 for a 20' roll at Lowes (one red, one white, because white is what they had in stock). 14 ga is probably overkill. I couldn't find what amp these lights draw anywhere, but 14ga would handle the 15amp limit of Aux4. At this point, things look like this:
   
   
   1. Note: the large heat shrink on the left of the image is also on the connectors on the right.
4. The next step was to attach the ends of the long wires I intend to run to power and grounds, next to battery. Again, keep track of your colors. In my case I matched red to red, and white to brown/yellow.
   
   
5. I then got out the heat gun and shrunk the heat shrink on all of these connections to seal things up. I wrapped a few ends in electrical tape to try to keep things tidy.
6. At this point, I started zip-tying up the wires from the lights to an existing wire bundle behind the bumper. I then took the new red/white wires and wrapped them in split black cable tube to add some protection from abrasion and such. I routed these up above the axel, again, following and zip-tying to existing wiring that's under there. At about the point I got to the fuel tank on the right side, I dropped the cable tube down to start running into the frame tubing. I used a fish tape I had fed from the passenger wheel well back to this point to pull the wires through. the black gorilla tape in the picture is where I joined two pieces of tubing. I zip-tied this to the frame as shown.
   
   
7. After pulling the wire through and out the frame rail, pushed & zip-tied this bundle up to the battery/pigtail behind the piece of steel next to the shock as shown.
   
   
8. From here, it was simply wiring the red to Aux 4, and the white to ground. Don't mix this part up. I don't know for sure but this could cause damage to the lights given the LEDs are one-way diodes. I used a hoop style connector to put this on one of the ground studs, again heat shrink over the connector to keep things tidy.

Hope that's helpful for the someone.

IF you're looking to wire yours to the reverse lights, my set of lights came with the extra harness. I'm not going to use this but can pass on to a member who could use it for a nominal price. DM me if you're interested.

Oh my God!!!
That's way too complicated.
I only wanted my lights to come on when I wanted them on and as approach lights.
Easy 15 minute install.
Just tap into the lights in your bed.
You have the switch in the dash from the factory. Quick and easy.

 

[notquiteflotsam]

That’s a great idea

Just tap into the lights in your bed.

That’s a good idea if you only need them for 30 seconds or whatever the timer is.

or don’t mind lighting up the camp ground when hunting for something in your bed at night.

maybe something to keep this in mind if I need to reclaim the aux switch in the future.

 

[Curt Oz]

They are controlled by your light switch and can stay on as long as you like.
As for approach light settings, they can be adjusted down to zero if you don't want them on.
I'm like you, I didn’t want to light up my neighbors house when backing out of my driveway, but

I wanted them to be used for more things. Helping someone broke down on the side of the road.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I back down a long drive into the garage - the only thing I'm blinding is the crickets or other stuff in the garage.
Rare that I'd be in a situation where they'd be any real problem. Backing up in other places is usually a very short time.
So - I'm not concerned.

Yes, there are multiple ground points back there, or ground to the stock backup light ground like I did using the Oracle harness.
Wiring any of these scenarios is very simple - with aux switch only, aux and stock backup lights, or other - really simple.

Sponsored